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[Dahbomb]

Maybe one day I'll read the manga. Nina was such an insufferable character jeez.

I just finished this show. Although there's a LOT I could not follow, what I least understand is Griffith's rebirth. Didn't that already happen at the end of the Golden Age arc? What am I watching here?

The original Griffith body does not exist anymore, it was tortured and mutilated. His consciousness was transformed into Femto, which is a Godhand (ie. not human, exists on a different plane than humanity). He wasn't reborn into Femto, he was transformed.

In order for him to be Griffith in the human world, he needs a physical body that he can manifest himself into (ie. skin suit). He can't exactly go around in Femto form as it's not exactly a human form (and it's two different planes of existence). All of this needed a very complex ritual for it to happen. This is again a transformation, not really a rebirth. They are all the same person in mind but the physical entity is different in all 3 cases (so goes from Physical to Vortex to Interstice presumably).


TLDR; Read the manga. There are far more details, nuances and subtleties to this arc that were lost in this poor adaptation. Also read the lost chapter where

Spoiler

Griffith has the conversation with the Idea of Evil.

Also this is the realm of existence I was referring to:

 

[JadedWriter]

Though there is a point later on when Griffith appears in the physical earth realm as Femto. So I don't exactly know how ironclad that rule is.

 

[Kieli]

Edit: Whoops, wrong thread.

 

[Dahbomb]

Though there is a point later on when Griffith appears in the physical earth realm as Femto. So I don't exactly know how ironclad that rule is.

Spoiler

It's possible that this version of Femto isn't a full Godhand.

And that probably makes it so that he can be more easily killed by Gutts (GOD WILLING!). This may in fact be a foreshadowing of some sorts.

 

[JadedWriter]

Spoiler

It's possible that this version of Femto isn't a full Godhand.

And that probably makes it so that he can be more easily killed by Gutts (GOD WILLING!). This may in fact be a foreshadowing of some sorts.

Spoiler

Considering how he laughed at a fucking behelit sword he can't be that much weaker.

 

[Breads]

Though there is a point later on when Griffith appears in the physical earth realm as Femto. So I don't exactly know how ironclad that rule is.

That's arguable - whether or not that instance can simply be called the physical earth realm. Off the top of my head there are at least 3 thing that challenge the idea. It's also a conversation we absolutely cannot have in this thread.

 

[JadedWriter]

That's arguable - whether or not that instance can simply be called the physical earth realm. Off the top of my head there are at least 3 thing that challenge the idea. It's also a conversation we absolutely cannot have in this thread.

I still can't believe there are people watching this without reading the manga beforehand. I'm always fuzzy on Berserk logistics though so I wouldn't mind it being explained to me.

 

[True Savior]

Nina is not awful. That they skipped a bunch of stuff, fast paced others but kept everything about Nina is what makes it awful. Her role is more much diluted in the story.

 

[FF Seraphim]

Just finished watching the last episode... I worry on how they will handle the next arc considering how Gutts in the armor moves and you know the whole troll village thing...

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

If you've watched this and haven't read the manga yet, I can't stress enough to you how badly you need to go read the manga! Like I've said before, the people behind the anime just didn't get it. Not showing how Zodd lost one of his horns? Rock music playing for when

Spoiler

Griffith was revealed?

Ugh. I could go on and on. Just don't let the anime scare you from the glorious manga!

 

[Breads]

Just marathoned the rest of the series.

Fuck this piece of shit adaptation. How can they make Griffith's return be so flaccid. I am so god damn angry that this garbage happened. I take back what I said before. I would have rather had nothing.

I would have rather died pining for a continuation of the 90s adaptation than experiancing the greasy shit stain that was smeared across my screen. I don't think I have ever been let down by a thing so badly. Kentaro Miura must be devastated that this is all his manga gets.

 

[EvilKatarn]

I think it's fair to say this show just isn't Berserk and leave it at that. I just can't muster up any willpower to write anything more indepth about it.

I'll forget we even had this anime by the end of the year.

 

[Z3M0G]

I have a question... I plan to read more of the thread but I'm one episode behind since I'm watching for free with commercials.

How faithful is the story telling to the manga so far? I am a huge fan of original Anime, and found the movies OK since it was just that story over again, but I find the story of this season pretty crazy... is it accurate to the source? Is it following the same chain of events? Same major characters? Etc? Is the anime adding in major characters that didn't exist in the Manga?

If it is fairly accurate, is this what the Manga started on? So this story was told BEFORE Golden Age story? If so, no wonder the anime jumped right to Golden Age... eeesh

 

[Matsukaze]

If it is fairly accurate, is this what the Manga started on? So this story was told BEFORE Golden Age story? If so, no wonder the anime jumped right to Golden Age... eeesh

No, the Tower of Conviction storyline came after the Golden Age arc.

The show makes only minor reference to Berserk's first arc (the rather short Black Swordsman arc, which was set in the wake of the Eclipse) and totally removed the "Lost Children" arc (which was published between the Golden Age arc and the Tower of Conviction).

The big problem with the show's depiction of events isn't individual scenes being out-of-order or show-only characters (of which there are none) mucking things up. It's that the story context provided by the preceding arcs just isn't really there, so viewers have to piece it together on whatever glimpses they're shown.

 

[Breads]

I have a question... I plan to read more of the thread but I'm one episode behind since I'm watching for free with commercials.

How faithful is the story telling to the manga so far? I am a huge fan of original Anime, and found the movies OK since it was just that story over again, but I find the story of this season pretty crazy... is it accurate to the source? Is it following the same chain of events? Same major characters? Etc? Is the anime adding in major characters that didn't exist in the Manga?

If it is fairly accurate, is this what the Manga started on? So this story was told BEFORE Golden Age story? If so, no wonder the anime jumped right to Golden Age... eeesh

It's roughly 80% similar. Ofc it doesn't go as in depth and it's also kind of butchered - randomly sprinkling things from previous arcs that never had a formal adaptation as well as leaving out the context for a lot of what you saw but you definitely got the bulk of the story for the Tower of Conviction arc. Episodes 2 and 4 onward are pretty accurate so what you saw is pretty much what you will expect in the manga.

That said it's not how the manga started.

In the 2016 series the first few episodes are a weird amalgamation of scenes from several arcs combined. As far as the manga goes...

Arc 1 is the Slug Count Arc (never adapted). It introduces Gutts as the already post eclipse Black Swordsman and it shows how he first meets Puck. It's function is a lot like the first episode of the 90s anime in how it sets up the characters and the world, though it is a bit edge lordy.

Arc 2 is Golden Age Arc, which you got roughly 90% of if you watched the 90s anime and movies. As you know it's a prequel arc that shows Gutts as a kid all the way until the Eclipse.

Arc 3 is the Lost Children Arc which you only got one scene of, the demon tree thing. It's mostly a non sequitur and why they chose to adapt part of it here I have no idea. It continues after the Eclipse. I believe after the Lost Children is where the Slug Count arc takes place chronologically.

Arc 4 is the Tower of Conviction Arc, which they mostly got right, though they had to trim a lot of the scenes down.

Knowning what I know you know, if you are dead set on not reading the entire manga (my suggestion), I think you should read the first Arc, continue on to Lost Children Arc, and then move right along to where this anime left off - with Griffith returning.

 

[Z3M0G]

It's roughly 80% similar. Ofc it doesn't go as in depth and it's also kind of butchered - randomly sprinkling things from previous arcs that never had a formal adaptation as well as leaving out the context for a lot of what you saw but you definitely got the bulk of the story for the Tower of Conviction arc. Episodes 2 and 4 onward are pretty accurate so what you saw is pretty much what you will expect in the manga.

That said it's not how the manga started.

In the 2016 series the first few episodes are a weird amalgamation of scenes from several arcs combined. As far as the manga goes...

Arc 1 is the Slug Count Arc (never adapted). It introduces Gutts as the already post eclipse Black Swordsman and it shows how he first meets Puck. It's function is a lot like the first episode of the 90s anime in how it sets up the characters and the world, though it is a bit edge lordy.

Arc 2 is Golden Age Arc, which you got roughly 90% of if you watched the 90s anime and movies. As you know it's a prequel arc that shows Gutts as a kid all the way until the Eclipse.

Arc 3 is the Lost Children Arc which you only got one scene of, the demon tree thing. It's mostly a non sequitur and why they chose to adapt part of it here I have no idea. It continues after the Eclipse. I believe after the Lost Children is where the Slug Count arc takes place chronologically.

Arc 4 is the Tower of Conviction Arc, which they mostly got right, though they had to trim a lot of the scenes down.

Knowning what I know you know, if you are dead set on not reading the entire manga (my suggestion), I think you should read the first Arc, continue on to Lost Children Arc, and then move right along to where this anime left off - with Griffith returning.

Thank you for the detail!!!

I don't get why they skipped over Arc 1... that is what we should be watching right now... would there be any good reason for them to skip over this? Did they not think it would be compelling?

 

[Grudy]

I have a question... I plan to read more of the thread but I'm one episode behind since I'm watching for free with commercials.

How faithful is the story telling to the manga so far? I am a huge fan of original Anime, and found the movies OK since it was just that story over again, but I find the story of this season pretty crazy... is it accurate to the source? Is it following the same chain of events? Same major characters? Etc? Is the anime adding in major characters that didn't exist in the Manga?

If it is fairly accurate, is this what the Manga started on? So this story was told BEFORE Golden Age story? If so, no wonder the anime jumped right to Golden Age... eeesh

In terms of overall plot and characters it's actually pretty faithful after the 3rd or 4th episodes, although they do skip some stuff like character mannerisms, some internal dialogue, probably more stuff I can't remember.

If you wanna talk about story telling however, that's a whole different issue. The anime wouldn't dream of touching the manga with a 1 mile pole.

 

[KyleCross]

Kentaro Miura must be devastated that this is all his manga gets.

Considering he himself is destroying a part of his manga by creating all new art for all the volume covers with digital coloring I'm sure he's fine with it.

I'm salty as hell. His traditional colored Berserk illustrations and volume covers were some of my favorite pieces of art. I just don't understand why he switched to digital...

 

[petran79]

Notice also that first series and the lone sword man arc are much more tense and brutal. After Gatsu meets all those newcomers and Schierke the teenage witch, Manga gets toned down a lot in order to appeal to a younger demographic as well. Second series will probably feel much closer to the Manga's current pace.
Essentially the producers tried to merge both the old and new Berserk Manga.

 

[Erigu]

Arc 1 is the Slug Count Arc

I think most would actually call it "Black Swordsman" and include the first two short stories.

Arc 3 is the Lost Children Arc
[...]
Arc 4 is the Tower of Conviction Arc

Lost Children is the first chapter of the Conviction arc.

Considering he himself is destroying a part of his manga by creating all new art for all the volume covers with digital coloring I'm sure he's fine with it.

"Destroying", really, now? Besides, I believe he only changed the cover for the first volume, so I'm not sure what you're referring to, there...

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

Notice also that first series and the lone sword man arc are much more tense and brutal. After Gatsu meets all those newcomers and Schierke the teenage witch, Manga gets toned down a lot in order to appeal to a younger demographic as well. Second series will probably feel much closer to the Manga's current pace.
Essentially the producers tried to merge both the old and new Berserk Manga.

Spoiler

Rape trolls

is toning it down?

Unlike the majority of the story pre Mozgus, Muira is taking years between chapters. Things could turn brutally south.

 

[Breads]

I think most would actually call it "Black Swordsman" and include the first two short stories.


Lost Children is the first chapter of the Conviction arc.

Spoken like a person who read a wiki. Thanks.

:edit:

I never took the time to look it up. I was shooting from the hip and never would have guessed that Lost Children was in the same arc as Tower of Conviction. It feels like two distinct arcs. Apparently

Spoiler

Troll Arc

all the way until

Spoiler

the end of the Kushan empire

is one huge Arc too, where personally I considered it at least three to four different ones.

 

[petran79]

Spoiler

Rape trolls

is toning it down?

Unlike the majority of the story pre Mozgus, Muira is taking years between chapters. Things could turn brutally south.

You do not see the level of violence featured in the earlier chapters where even kids had to suffer. Some chapters feel closer to a shonen title. Millenium Falcon Arc is rather inconsistent.

 

[Ushay]

Just marathoned the rest of the series.

Fuck this piece of shit adaptation. How can they make Griffith's return be so flaccid. I am so god damn angry that this garbage happened. I take back what I said before. I would have rather had nothing.

I would have rather died pining for a continuation of the 90s adaptation than experiancing the greasy shit stain that was smeared across my screen. I don't think I have ever been let down by a thing so badly. Kentaro Miura must be devastated that this is all his manga gets.

I also just finished the anime in one go for the sake of curiosity. This was the worst adaption I have ever watched, holy shit that was bad. They botched the character art, the animation was shoddy at best and Guts looked really bad, nothing like the source material.

There were so many scenes that should ha e felt epic but were let down by the shitty direction. I hated everything about this new anime... Everything. And to top everything this piece of crap studio are making another season...? Omg..

Why can't a top studio like Bones pick thus series up? It would be an instant hit.

They need to nuke this abomination of an anime and start from scratch with a top studio, and this time from the very beginning of the manga. I would have preferred they contiued the movies instead,they were far superior.

 

[Jinaar]

Just watched episodes 1-3 last night. I'm going to be the odd person out and say I don't mind too much, as I'm really just enjoying the ride. I've read up to a few years back, so pretty caught up to the Manga.

It is what it is. I'll finish it all and probably continue to enjoy my experience.

 

[hipbabboom]

Just started watching this and quickly realized just how much I wanted a Berserk anime because I would totally stop watching just about any anime with this poor of a presentation. With this, I simply didn't care and was engrossed in the first episode. Its been so long since I've read the chapters this first episode was based on, that the story in the anime felt fresh even if familiar. I'll continue watching.

 

[hipbabboom]

I read earlier on in this thread Casca was whitewashed but just started on episode 2 and realized to just what extent it was done to. WOW. What purpose does it serve to change a character so much?

 

[True Savior]

I read earlier on in this thread Casca was whitewashed but just started on episode 2 and realized to just what extent it was done to. WOW. What purpose does it serve to change a character so much?

There is no purpose. It's best you don't try to rationalize the anime choices. Probably someone messed up the coloring and cause there's zero control quality through the entire thing they just noticed it after people complained (and they ended up changing it in the final eps)

 

[Sayad]

I read earlier on in this thread Casca was whitewashed but just started on episode 2 and realized to just what extent it was done to. WOW. What purpose does it serve to change a character so much?

It's mostly weird coloring in the first few episodes, she clearly have darker skin later on. It's still the lightest skin tone we've seen her in, but in the first few episode you couldn't even tell she's not white.


Also, do we know if Casca is a Kushan/half Kushan?

 

[Syder]

It's mostly weird coloring in the first few episodes, she clearly have darker skin later on. It's still the lightest skin tone we've seen her in, but in the first few episode you couldn't even tell she's not white.


Also, do we know if Casca is a Kushan/half Kushan?

I don't believe Miura has ever given her a canon race. She just isn't white, that's for sure.

My head canon has always been Kushan.

 

[DrunkShogun]

I don't believe Miura has ever given her a canon race. She just isn't white, that's for sure.

My head canon has always been Kushan.

I've always found her skin tone similar to silat and crew who are south Asian in terms of comparing skin tone to an actual region so I push Kushan as well.

 

[Caderfix]

I tried to watch this show today, and I really wanted to like it. I actively pushed through and tried to downplay the the numerous issues I had with the show, but I wasn't able to get past ep 3. This is really bad, in my opinion.

I'll wait another 10+ years for the next adaptation.

 

[SargerusBR]

Saw this on FB

Bluray vs TV

 

[HStallion]

Saw this on FB

Bluray vs TV

That's a pretty big step up on the facial animations. The fucking TV show she looks like she can't move her face properly, the blu ray version shows some real emotion.

Edit: Hopefully they show the bluray version whenever this show gets a dubbing and hits toonami

 

[meltingparappa]

Saw this on FB

Bluray vs TV

I'd hate to be the person who has a budget in front of them and has to pick and choose what percentage of the show should go into retakes.

I also have hope for the dub release if use the bluray footage and can get the original cast back together. Looks highly unlikely though, with Crunchyroll using Bang Zoom for everything.

The final nail on the coffin for this show will be if Johnny Young Bosch ends up voicing Griffith.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Like night and day

 

[Moaradin]

That seems to be the biggest change in the blu ray trailer. The only other things I've noticed is they added nipples and uncensored some of the violence. Everything else is pretty minor.

 

[Yabberwocky]

Saw this on FB

Bluray vs TV

Oh, wow, they've re-animated most of it with hand-drawn animation. Looks so much better.

 

[petran79]

Oh, wow, they've re-animated most of it with hand-drawn animation. Looks so much better.

I'd rather prefer more detailed CGI, even if it would mean borrowing from the upcoming musou or even PS2 game

 

[True Savior]

You can't polish a turd.

 

[dan2026]

This 'fix it later' attitude a lot of anime has these says is goddamn ridiculous.

 

[meltingparappa]

This 'fix it later' attitude a lot of anime has these says is goddamn ridiculous.

It's not like they didn't try their hardest, while meeting the broadcast deadline.

The fixes likely only exist in the first place due to the blu-rays being the primary revenue source, so I just think of it as a huge extra feature, just like directors cut footage. If every tv or theatrical release could scrounge together extra budget for a second chance to fix or adjust things for bluray/streaming, the world would be a happier place.

 

[JadedWriter]

You can't polish a turd.

They would pretty much have to reanimate the entire first season not to mention rewrite it, fix the pacing and add more episodes.

 

[RetroDLC]

They would pretty much have to reanimate the entire first season not to mention rewrite it, fix the pacing and add more episodes.

If they do staggered Blu-ray releases for it, they may as well polish the entire season to a decent quality.

 

[Imperfected]

I don't get why they skipped over Arc 1... that is what we should be watching right now... would there be any good reason for them to skip over this? Did they not think it would be compelling?

This is by no means meant to be a defense of the current anime, which is still bad, but...

That arc isn't good, isn't necessary, and there's no reason to adapt it other than just blatant fanservice. If you're trying to tell a coherent story it's completely skippable. It was a decent sort of thing in isolation, and obviously showed a lot of the promise Berserk ultimately delivered on, but it really is the janky "pilot episode" of the whole thing at this juncture.

The earlier "prototype" chapters are honestly something you have to figure the artist came to regret later on and might have even asked them not to include, as they're just incredibly awkward in the scope of the now much larger narrative.

I'd assume Lost Children got cut for content (because seriously, yeesh), whereas "Slug Prince" probably got cut for the fact that no one on the creative side has much desire to see it done. Lost Children is at least good, so I can understand why so many people want to see it (even though it's frankly nearly irrelevant to the story aside from providing slightly better framing and context for Farnese's first appearance), though honestly as long as broadcast standards are a thing that exists it's probably not reasonable to expect it.

 

[HStallion]

This is by no means meant to be a defense of the current anime, which is still bad, but...

That arc isn't good, isn't necessary, and there's no reason to adapt it other than just blatant fanservice. If you're trying to tell a coherent story it's completely skippable. It was a decent sort of thing in isolation, and obviously showed a lot of the promise Berserk ultimately delivered on, but it really is the janky "pilot episode" of the whole thing at this juncture.

The earlier "prototype" chapters are honestly something you have to figure the artist came to regret later on and might have even asked them not to include, as they're just incredibly awkward in the scope of the now much larger narrative.

I'd assume Lost Children got cut for content (because seriously, yeesh), whereas "Slug Prince" probably got cut for the fact that no one on the creative side has much desire to see it done. Lost Children is at least good, so I can understand why so many people want to see it (even though it's frankly nearly irrelevant to the story aside from providing slightly better framing and context for Farnese's first appearance), though honestly as long as broadcast standards are a thing that exists it's probably not reasonable to expect it.

I don't think Miura would have kept including the Slug Count in the manga in passing for as long as he did if he was embarrassed or whatever.

 

[Zolo]

The first arcs before the Golden Age are fine. They just don't really line up well with Guts by the time the Golden Age ends. That said, yeah. They're definitely the weakest arcs in Berserk with Miura just starting out.

 

[Tizoc]

Not sure how manga spoiler policy is supposed to work here if the adaptation is so butchered. It makes sense. It's just not part of the story anime only viewers were told.

Just direct them to the Berserk manga OT
Only reason i'm more tolerant to spoilers here is because of the questionable quality of the anime

 

[JadedWriter]

The first arcs before the Golden Age are fine. They just don't really line up well with Guts by the time the Golden Age ends. That said, yeah. They're definitely the weakest arcs in Berserk with Miura just starting out.

I think the only pre golden age thing that is so not Guts is him fucking the titty apostle on page one.

 

[Host Samurai]

I love the art and creature designs in that first pre Golden Age arc. Seems like it's Berserk in its darkest form